Powered by The Strength of The Gambit, Transgressive Leftists Target French Quarter Doll House and Toy Soldier Shop
Nerdish Historical Model-Makers Threaten No One
THIS IS A DIORAMA FIGURINE SHOP we’re talking about… let’s be very clear.
But despite the benign nature of the shop, New Orleans Leftists have misidentified the highly-niched French Quarter hobby store as celebrating Hitler, the Holocaust, slavery, and the Klan.
“Tipped off” by a confused man in New York, spurred on by a local activist, and amplified by The Gambit Weekly, owned by John Georges, local blowhards are viciously targeting the owners of a Royal Street boutique, one that specializes in high-detail figurines for doll houses and for creating diorama scenes from history. Scenes like this….
And like this:
An enduring hobby for many people is creating small-scale, historically-accurate renderings of past events, wars and battles among them. As in any rendering of the Second World War, Hitler is essential; sadly, he cannot be banished from the very war he started. Those renderings must also include Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt, and Eisenhower. You can’t render the war without rendering Hitler. So, understandably, among a large variety of soldier and other military figurines from across time and space, this boutique must sell these…
Battles from the US Civil War are commonly rendered by hobbyists, meaning the shop must stock Confederate figurines, too. Imagine a diorama of Gettysburg without any Confederate soldiers on the field. It’s ridiculous!
Now, the art of re-creating scenes from the past with precision and historical accuracy, along with era-consistency and true topography rendering… these have come under attack from local Leftists who don’t understand their own protest. They think they’re exposing a cabal of Hitler-lovers. Instead, they’re attacking a doll house shop.
Only a portion of the shop’s inventory is military; they sell literally thousands of items, like miniature tea sets or small furniture items, or figurines like this one…
Figurine Haters Gonna Hate; Diorama Deniers Gonna Deny
A local agitator this weekend got hold of a Tweet from a New York visitor to New Orleans back in January, when the visitor entered the store, seeing various displays of inventory, including little Hitlers. The local fellow pushed it very hard, spreading the news and taping himself visiting the store Monday. Unaware that they’re protesting a doll house shop, while believing themselves to have uncovered a previously unknown Nazi + KKK Den, people are organizing on Twitter, plotting nefarious recriminations, urging others to do harm, and threatening the shop, owners and contents, both.
The Gambit, quite pleased with themselves, included a hyperlink and gloatingly wrote that the shop's “Yelp page has been bombed by opponents of racism and antisemitism. It currently enjoys a one star rating on the site.“ Indeed, here’s a sampling:
“So… it’s a Nazi store from now on. That’s not a mantle I would ever want to wear as a public business, but I’m not them.”
“This is a horrible store that promotes white supremacy and nazi's. I mean, come on.....do better. I hope you are put out of business over this.”
“nazis run this shop
nazis run this shop
nazis run this shop
nazis run this shop
nazis run this shop”“… this store inexplicably sells Hitler figurines thus promoting antisemitism and white supremacy as well as Nazism.”
“This store promotes white supremacy. They doubled down on it after being given a chance to do the right thing. Do not shop here.”
“This store supports white supremacy! Do not shop here. DO NOT SHOP HERE, DO NOT SHOP HERE, DO NOT SHOP HERE! The owner is racist and sells nazi figurines.”
“NAZI lovers with Nazi figurines on the shelves...Don't shop here if your sensitive to this type of racist trash. If your a supporter of white supremacy and the murdering and genocide of 6,000,000 Jewish people, then go visit, they will welcome you with open arms and a smile, just don't question them about those figurines or they will death con 5 on you.”
“Zero stars for an antisemitic and racist store selling NAZI figurines and Confederate flags. Why give your hard-earned money to a store that doesn't care at all if they deeply offend and pain their customers? They are profiting off of hate while claiming neutrality. You can't sell symbols of hate and cry innocence. They are complicit in the rising wave of antisemitism and racism. If you don't want your money supporting hate, don't shop here!”
“This place sells figurines of Hitler! The owners are nazi's and they promote white supremacy. They also have black face figurines and one person even said they sell KKK robes!”
“The shop owner openly and whole-heartedly promotes Nazis. A shop completely void of any black culture - in the MIDDLE of the French quarter - that proudly and openly supports not only white supremacy but also the wholesale destruction of individual people, is not a place to spend your money. Ever.”
Imagine angrily descending upon the National World War II Museum and demanding Hitler be removed. That’s exactly what’s happening here, but it’s a doll and figurine boutique instead of the museum.
The local agitator is very proud of himself: “Well…I went to that Nazi store in the French Quarter…they were closed…so I left a message,” as he flips the finger. “Because they hate Blacks and Jews… a LOT of racists here…”
Axiomatic and obvious, stores of this type must stock every type of figure from history.
To make matters much worse, to deepen the injustice of what’s happening to the shop owners, The Gambit took the bait and has published:
Gambit editor John Stanton, who should feel humiliated in embarrassment, wrote that the store, since at least January, “has apparently been trafficking in white supremacist memorabilia, including selling statues of pro-slavery Confederate army figures and Adolf Hitler, who murdered 6 million Jews.”
To remind everyone, especially Mr. Stanton, “diorama” is a high school level word according to Dictionary.com. This could be too hard for him:
Don't forget Stanton’s caption for the New Yorker's Hitler figurine photo:
“Yep, those are definitely Hitlers. A lot of Hitlers.”The fact there are so many to choose from confirms to Stanton that the store owners are that much more fanatically supportive of Adolph Hitler. In reality, it simply means Hitler has been rendered from different times and places; there’s nothing more to it than that. Like Young Elvis and Old Elvis… the boutique carries Elvis Presley memorabilia, too! Does that obligate them to love his records?
We’ll credit The Gambit with doing the heavy lifting and telling the strange story of how a doll shop became Nazis-R-Us:
“The sale of the Hitler figures, which come in a variety of uniforms and poses, came to light Sunday thanks to a tweet by … a Jewish New Yorker who saw the statues during a visit to New Orleans in January.
“He told Gambit on Monday the Hitler statues were conveniently located next to the shop’s selection of Confederate themed statues and items. It is unclear whether they are part of a broader white supremacist section of the store.
The man “said he had largely put the issue behind him until the recent spike in antisemitism made him decide to use it as a way to mobilize voters.”
“Although the shop was supposed to be open Monday, it was closed tight — likely a result of outrage over the owners’ profiting off antisemitism and pro-slavery sentiments. No one answered the phone Monday, and the business’ voicemail was full.”
Stanton did not go into the store nor did he speak with the owners, this as he is conflating a high-end hobby shop with a White Supremacist Union.
The Jewish fellow had earlier called the owners, though, and admittedly they were taken aback; they never seemed to understand him, because the accusation he leveled at them is just unthinkable to them. Of course it would be unthinkable to them. They sell rare figurines, they’re not Nazis.
Stanton embedded into The Gambit story the recording of the New York customer calling the owners, who did not know they were being recorded (which is not illegal in Louisiana, though it is very inappropriate.) Stanton, to remind you, has not spoken to the store owners nor has he stepped into their shop to see things for himself, nor is there any hint of Stanton’s confirmation of the recording (or the photo) as unaltered or verified as legitimate, but none of this gave The Gambit pause to run with the story.
The recorded conversation between the New York agitator and the shop owners:
“I wanted to see who I could talk to about reconsidering showing that kind of thing there”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I mean they’re figures of Adolf Hitler. So ...”
“It's actually handmade items that we have”
"But do you think that has a negative impact right now?”
“Who are you that you’re asking me these questions?”
“Things quickly went downhill from there,” commented Stanton.
“It is part of history, sir. And you just have to accept it… I feel very, very insulted … What religion are you from?”
Stanton buttressed the grievance, writing, “Toward the end of the call, … he pointed out the obvious flaw in the shop’s ‘It’s Just History’ argument.
“The KKK is also part of history, would you have those as well?”
Perhaps surprisingly, the woman bluntly said, “If someone requested it, we would probably look for it.”
The shop owner is talking miniature figurines, thinking about all this for what it is: statuettes, dolls, toy soldiers. She’s not attaching emotions to these items; they’re just her inventory. Maybe the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum has ordered a diorama built of a lynching; in her business, this transaction wouldn’t be unusual: it also wouldn’t be evidence of supporting lynching.
There exist benign uses of statuettes that render sad and awful events in human history: the telling of the history among them.
Stanton reassured the righteousness of the caller’s request: “He had held out hope the owners would realize selling Hitler statues is wrong and remove them.”
Removing Hitler from this shop would be just like removing Hitler from the World War II Museum. And just as the museum does not endorse Hitler by referencing him, neither is this boutique endorsing Hitler. Indeed, sadly, it’s reality, as the shop owner said in the recorded call. And because of Hitler’s evils, to our dismay, yes, we all do “just have to accept it.”
Yesterday, The BEC wrote about the invective aimed at John Blancher of Rock-n-Bowl. Today, it’s owners of a doll house store.
The BEC condemns these thoughtless and angry attacks. We stand with the business owners, and we seek to expose the corruption and mind-numbing stupidity of the transgressive Left.